


Three Times Shiro Did Not Realise How Gay Things Were

by Ryzaphelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, shiro is dumb, too dumb to notice the gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:24:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9619709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryzaphelle/pseuds/Ryzaphelle
Summary: do u rlly need a summary?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this to be a joke basically and it turned into a 2k word fic  
> why can't i just write drabbles  
> why is that so hard  
> anyways  
> enjoy the gay~

It had been weeks since Shiro returned to the Castle of Lions. Even so, it’s occupants still regarded him warily and gave him looks of sympathy, accompanied by the “Are you sure you’re okay?” he’d heard too many times.

He was aware that a lot had changed since his disappearance. One change he did not expect was that Hunk had invented a new goo flavor. This type was blue and wobbled like jelly, Shiro was pretty sure it was jelly - but one taste and Shiro found that it tasted like macaroni cheese. Strangely enough though, every bite tasted like a different meal - Shiro blamed it on Hunk’s skills as a cook and engineer, and strange Altean physics. (One look at the ship’s pool was enough for Shiro to be done with his attempt to understand Alteans.)

“I call it  _ Bonne Nourriture _ ,” Hunk said now as he stood at the head of the table.

Shiro and the other paladins were all sat around the dining table, chowing down on Hunk’s new goo. No one spoke as they all practically inhaled the food, evidence that the yellow paladin’s creation lived up to it’s name.

“Naming things in french doesn’t automatically make it cool,” Lance piped up, his mouth full from the goo.

Hunk scowled then crossed his arms. “You do it all the time with spanish,” he shot back.

Shiro sighed, but was secretly glad that the intra-paladin bickering hadn’t stopped.

“Well that’s because I am,” Lance said with a grin. “Spanish, that is- Well, I’m actually Cuban but-”

A wave of groans went around the table. For Shiro, it seemed that Lance was still as unapologetic about his roots as ever. Amongst all that he had missed, these little ticks of behaviour brought him comfort that nothing had changed drastically so.

“That’s the excuse you always make,” Keith broke the groans in saying. “You used it yesterday when I found you dancing to The Ketchup Song.”

“It’s a good song!” Lance defended himself in saying, then sat back in his chair with a smirk on his face. “Besides, you weren’t complaining, you even described my hips as-”

Hunk interjected suddenly, “Let’s keep it PG folks, there’s a child here after all.”

“But there’s-” Pidge started, then her face fell and she crossed her arms. “You mean me, don’t you.” She didn’t even phrase it as a question, and Shiro struggled to keep his chuckle in.

“Stupid, I called his hips stupid,” Keith censored, then cast a look at Lance.

Shiro realised that the look wasn’t entirely hostile, and he was glad that - while he had been gone - the two had become friends and less so the rivals that they had been when they first got on this crazy journey through space. They were even sat next to each other, that was a miracle in itself.

“So on a scale of 1 to 10, how good is this food?” Hunk asked, standing confidently as if he already knew the answer.

“10000,” Lance enthused, and the rest of the team piped in with different numbers that were all off the scale.

Hunk’s face turned into one of bliss as he showered in everyone’s compliments.

“You never cease to amaze me, Hunk,” Shiro praised. Everyone turned to him - at first with those wary looks, then with big smiles.

After that eventful breakfast, Shiro went about his daily routine of bonding with his lion, planning for future missions, training - both physical and with with his lion. Of course he had some free time in between, but the scheduling and order of the day was to help him recover from his trauma. It was a habit he picked up after the first time he was taken by the galra. Granted, most of it was from his time at the Garrison, but for him it was a good habit to have at the moment.

During his break, he wandered the halls of the castle, letting his feet take him wherever. He found himself in the bay belonging to the green lion where Pidge was yet again tinkering with her lion.

“Hey, Pidge,” Shiro greeted, coming to stand before the desk she had set up to keep her equipment. To Shiro it was all very fascinating, how a 14 year old could build so much and be so handy at computers. He remembered it took her but two seconds to familiarise herself with altean technology when they first got here.

“Hey,” she replied distantly, deep in her work.

So deep that a minute of silence passed between them.

“Soooo,” Shiro prompted, “what are you working on?”

“I’m trying to expand my lion’s cloak to encompass the objects around her,” she explained monotonously, glasses shining as she studied her computer.

Deciding that this conversation wasn’t going to be an engaging one, Shiro turned to leave and tossed a “keep up the good work,” over his shoulder.

“If you see Keith, can you send him to me?” she said just as he was about to leave the hangar.

“Will do,” Shiro replied before leaving.

Once again, Shiro wandered the halls. The castle seemed bigger with only seven people living in it, he was sure that it wouldn’t feel so big if it housed a normal Altean population. To fill his time, he decided to search for Keith.

First, Shiro checked the training deck, but he wasn’t there surprisingly. He remembered the red paladin spending every waking moment in this room - but it seemed that had changed too. So Shiro decided to go directly to his quarters. Down the hallways and corridors he went until he reached Keith’s doors.

Before he knocked, he listened in when he heard two male voices. One was speaking rapidly while the other added comments here and there. Shiro knocked and opened the door when he was granted permission to enter by a low voice.

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro greeted as he stood in the doorway, then his eyes fell to the other figure in the room, “and Lance.”

The latter stuck his head around the corner and gave a small smile in reply, the two of them sat on Keith’s bed facing each other, backs against the walls. “Hey, Shiro,” they chanted back.

Shiro folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. “It’s strange to see you guys together, what have you two been doing anyway?”

“Lance has been talking nonsense.”

“I’m telling Keith about my family.”

They both talked at the same time, so it took a moment for them to register what the other had said. When they did, they turned and scowled at each other.

“Fine! You are banned from seeing my family,” Lance declared and crossed his arms with a scowl on his face.

Keith sighed but he smiled at the blue paladin, he then turned to Shiro and explained, “Lance likes to talk to me about his family. Most of the time it’s in spanish which I can’t understand but it makes him feel better so I just let him ramble.”

Lance loosened up and looked at Keith with wonder. 

Shiro was about to start crying, he couldn’t believe how their friendship had progressed to a point that the two unapologetically cared about one another. When he noticed the two boys watching him expectantly, he realised he’d been staring at them for too long.

He cleared his throat. “I did come here for a reason,” Shiro said, trying to cover himself. “Pidge wants you in her lion’s hangar, Keith.”

Keith arched an eyebrow. “Any particular reason why?”

“I’m unsure,” Shiro replied as Keith got up and pulled on his boots, “but she was tinkering with her lion so maybe it something to do with that?”

Keith tugged on his jacket as Lance stood to. “Okay, but if you’re going to see Pidge then I’m coming too,” Lance piped up. “I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.”

“Why can’t you annoy Hunk?” Keith was saying as they all exited his room out into the corridor.

The trio broke away as Keith and Lance headed to the north-west wing of the castle. “Please, you’d be lost without me,” Lance was scoffing. 

Shiro hung back and watched them go. 

Keith was silent for a moment and Shiro was sure he wouldn’t reply before he relented a “Okay, maybe a little lost.”

Shiro went about the rest of his afternoon, going through his usual drills, conversing with the princess and Coran, more bonding with his lion. For dinner, Hunk introduced Coran and Allura to his  _ Bonne Nourriture  _ (which once again elicited a remark from Lance). While the Alteans weren’t too astounded by Hunk’s invention, they still seemed proud of him for coming up with such a dish all by himself.

For the rest of the day, Shiro didn’t really know what to do with himself. So he once again found himself wandering the castle’s halls with no particular aim or goal. He wondered if he should train again with the Gladiator, realising it’d take his mind off things whilst getting more of his daily exercises. So he headed in that direction.

When he came upon the training halls, he found them to already be occupied. It was to be expected after all considering that Keith practically  _ lived _ here. Strangely enough, though, Keith was fighting Lance rather than the usual Gladiator.

It was weird to see Lance with a sword, more so the fact that he was using it against Keith as the boys swung and parried at each other. It was clear, though, that Keith was overall the better of the two, having trained with a blade almost all his life. Despite this, Lance was still holding up against him well.

Until Keith tripped him up and he went sprawling to the floor.

“Stop cheating!” Lance pouted as he propped himself up on the floor.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Keith replied, smirking from where he stood above the blue paladin. “You fell.”

“No, you tripped me!” Lance accused, pointing a finger at Keith.

Keith’s smirk had grown wider, barely containing a grin. “Or maybe you’re just lousy at swordsmanship.”

They shared a long look as Lance scowled up at the red paladin.

“Whatever, man,” Lance relented, sticking up a hand. “Just help me up.” He still held the scowl, but only Shiro could see the trace of a smirk on his lips.

Keith was a fool for taking his hand.

The red paladin was yanked down to Lance’s level, the two sprawled out on the floor, and Shiro could only watch in confusion and horror at what happened next.

Keith began to laugh, it replaced his normal broody expression as he gazed down at Lance with a strange gleam in his eye. “I hate you,” he said with a smile.

“No, you don’t,” Lance replied, fingers reaching up to tuck a loose lock of hair behind Keith’s ear.

Shiro’s brain stopped working when they kissed.

“Yeah, they do that,” a voice startled him slightly. Shiro turned around to see Pidge coming to stand beside him. “It’s been this way ever since they started dating.”

Shiro was sure he misheard.

“Dati- What?”

“Yeah,” Pidge confirmed, then looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. “Did you seriously not know?”

“I...I guess not.” That depressive cloud was beginning to form over Shiro’s head again with the knowledge that he had missed a huge milestone in the red and blue paladins’ relationship. “How did it start?” he asked as he retreated from the door when the scene beyond started to get more heated.

With an expression of disgust, Pidge watched the couple until the doors fully shut. Then she turned back to Shiro. “I could lie and say it was subtle just to make you feel better, but if you know anything about Lance and Keith they are the most unsubtle people I know.” Shiro chuckled at that and waited for her to continue. “Lance was getting angsty that Keith was piloting the black lion. Keith was under the impression that Lance was just being jealous, so they had a heated argument where Lance accidentally confessed that he cared about him too much and might even love him and blah blah blah they’re now canoodling.”

Chuckling again, Shiro mused at Pidge’s explanation and use of “canoodling”, no longer worrying too much over what he had missed. No, Shiro thought, what mattered now was the memories he continued to make with his friends. And he would cherish them forever.


	2. The Prequel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically, this is a prequel to the previous chapter since so many of you were requesting it so here~  
> Also, thank you all SO MUCH for the support on the previous chapter, you're all stars!  
> So, here, have some klangst!~

“Keith, stop!”

He didn’t have time for this.

Keith kept walking towards the black lion, his teeth gritted in an attempt to ignore the voice behind him. It had been like this for the last two weeks, a constant state of arguing and tantrums. He was sure he’d had the exact same debate three times this week.

“I said stop!”

Hating himself for being so weak, Keith gave in and turned around. “What, Lance!?” he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the hangar. “We both know how this will happen; you’ll tell me not to go, we’ll fight, and I’ll go anyway. Just drop it!”

“You can’t go, Keith,” Lance replied, his voice more calm. It was a perfect representation of the lion he’d been chosen by; cool, calm, collected. This wasn’t the Lance he knew from previous fights, the one that sputtered and spat as they verbally assaulted each other. This Lance was different, Keith thought, he saw it in the way the blue paladin folded his arms over his chest and regarded Keith with a cool blue gaze. His helmet was nowhere to be seen, making the expression on his face all the more punctuated.

“Why?” he grit out, deciding to humour Lance.

“The black lion wasn’t meant to be commanded by you,” he offered, but Keith had heard it before when Lance had first mocked the black paladin armour in saying it fit too well with Keith’s emo personality. When he opened his mouth to retort, Lance cut him off. “It’s not bonded to you, that means it could easily be controlled, or worse - rebel of its own free will-”

“We’ve been flying for two weeks, Lance-”

“I don’t care!” the blue paladin shouted back, slowly losing his state of calm. Keith prefered it that way, he knew that in a hot-headed fight, he’d come out on top. “You’re not meant for the black lion-”

“And you are!?” Keith interrupted. “I thought you were happy with your lion, but I guess with Shiro being gone it’s just another excuse for you to start another stupid competition! That’s what this is, isn’t it!?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “A new opportunity for you the prove you’re better than me. Well, you’re not!”

Lance didn’t say anything for a while. His face had fallen and he stared at Keith with wide eyes. Finally, he spoke. “Do you have any idea how it feels?” he asked softly, eyes to the floor. “To know that the only reason I got that placement at the Garrison, was because you got kicked out?”

Keith was still scowling. They were wasting too much time, all because Lance was sharing his sob story.

“Since that moment, I have been walking in your shadow, constantly trying to prove to myself that I rightfully earned that placement - not because some schmuck had a discipline issue.” Where Lance’s eyes had previously been downcast to the floor, they rose again to meet Keith’s heated gaze. Those sky blue eyes hardened as he spoke, “But this isn’t about me trying to prove myself.”

“What is this about then!?” Keith asked, voice rising in volume again.

“It’s about keeping you safe!”

Keith froze. That certainly wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting. He didn’t really  _ know _ what he was expecting. He pushed away the confusion and the anger rose up again. “Why do you care so much!?” he shouted. “I thought you hated me!  _ I _ was the one standing in the way of your stupid placement! _ I _ was the one Shiro favoured more!  _ I _ was the one who took charge to lead Voltron! Why  _ wouldn’t _ you hate me!?”

“Because I care about you too much to let you climb into that lion, Keith!” Lance countered, and the two went silent.

Keith was speechless, and tired. He was tired of fighting, tired of being a leader, tired of defending the universe from the Galra Empire. Tired of keeping his tears from sliding down his cheeks.

So he let them fall, and they rolled silently down his face.

“How?” he whispered. “How can you care?”

Lance didn’t answer.

“How can you care about a dropout with no family, no sense, and no idea how to be a leader?” Overcome with shame, he attempted to wipe away the tears. It proved difficult with both his gloves and helmet on, so he stopped and dropped his eyes to the floor.

He didn’t hear Lance approach, but saw his boots enter his vision. Without a word, the blue paladin wrapped Keith into his embrace. “Like this,” he whispered in reply to Keith’s question.

He was only slightly taller than Keith, yet he felt dwarfed in Lance’s arms, his body frozen.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt,” Lance continued, “you tell us to go after every Galra ship we see with no regard for what the exertion will do to us - to you.”

Without thinking, he buried his head in Lance’s shoulder. “I just-” Keith began, then took a shuddering breath. “I just want Shiro back…”

“We all do,” Lance replied gently. “We don’t know that they took him though.”

Slowly, Keith reached around the blue paladin, hands resting on his back. He needed grounding, lest his emotions drive him off another reckless cliff. Lance was right, they couldn’t just search and destroy every Galra ship they came across in hopes that Shiro was aboard one of them. Almost every fleet they came across divulged no knowledge of the black paladin’s whereabouts. “I have to do  _ something _ ,” Keith gave voice to his thoughts.

“We will, we are,” Lance said. He pulled away but only to face Keith, his feet planted to the floor. 

It was now that Keith realised how close they were. It should’ve felt awkward, but it wasn’t -  _ he _ wasn’t. It was a perfect equilibrium of hot and cold, fire and ice, red and blue - Keith looked to the black paladin armour clad over his body, suddenly feeling its foreign weight. 

He wanted it off.

Lance, as if knowing exactly what he was thinking, moved his hands up to rest on Keith’s helmet. He tugged it off gently before letting it drop to the floor. The blue paladin smiled as his eyes went to Keith’s messy hair, and Keith half-thought to swat his hand away when Lance tried to smooth it down, his gloved fingers running through the locks. Finally, Lance’s hands came to rest on either side of Keith’s face. Their eyes met and Keith felt something begin to burn inside him.

“What are you doing, Lance?” he asked, but found himself moving closer.

“I don’t know,” Lance whispered in reply, tilting his head so that their noses brushed. “Tell me to stop.”

But he didn’t.

And he kissed him.

~

Pidge and hunk watched from a crack in the hangar doors. Then they fell back onto the floor when they were satisfied by the scene on the other side of those doors.

“I win,” Hunk said, but almost monotonously, still dumbfounded by what he had just seen.

“No, you don’t,” Pidge replied as she scrunched up her face. “You bet on angry angst,” she continued, then pointed to the doors, “That’s  _ raw  _ angst.”

“Same difference,” Hunk excused, crossing his arms and pouting. “Besides, you lost too - that was no awkward, cutesy get-together, my friend.”

Pidge snorted and mimicked his position. “Whatever,  _ you’re  _ the one who came up with this stupid bet in the first place. I mean, who does that?” she threw her hands up. “Who bets on their friends getting together?”

“Uh, you,” Hunk fired back. “Don’t lie so you can get out of doing my laundry.”

Without another word, she got up and headed down the corridor. Before turning the corner, she threw back a “I hate you and I hate your stupid laundry.”

Hunk, smug about his victory, decided to follow, but not before taking a little peek at the couple through the crack in the door. Suddenly grossed out, he got up and ran after Pidge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks so much!
> 
> Follow my tumblr @ryzaphelle


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